Socialtext, in Palo Alto, Calif., is a software-as-a-service provider that sells a hosted service offering wiki software tailored for internal corporate deployments. Customers can use the software for team collaboration, project updates and revision tracking, publishing blogs and other tasks.
The company's service is free for up to five users and carries a monthly subscription fee for larger deployments. Socialtext also offers a free, open-source version of its wiki software for users that prefer to host it themselves.
The new, 2.0 version offers a redesigned user interface and additional APIs to ease integration with other applications.
"At the superficial level, Socialtext 2.0 beta just looks nicer: big buttons, cleaner layout and the display areas just make more sense. You don't feel you're entering a secret world any more," one reviewer wrote in his blog. "Socialtext has abandoned its geeky air and made itself much more acceptable to novice and experienced users alike."
Wikis are group-editedable websites, a content-management system popular with developers and gradually gaining ground for broader use. Wikipedia is one high-profile example. Microsoft has been experimenting with using wikis throughout its developer network to improve the flow of feedback from and among its users.